Expanding Access to End-Of-Life Care in Windsor and Essex County

More Patients and Families to Receive Compassionate Palliative Care

Ontario is partnering with the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County to build more hospice beds that will provide 40 more patients and their families each year with palliative and end-of-life care closer to home.

John Fraser, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, was at the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County today to make the announcement.

The province will provide support for two new beds at the existing eight-bed hospice. This funding will also supplement donations from the community to renovate the dining room, kitchen and sunroom areas. Family and personal caregivers use these communal spaces to visit patients at any time of the day, staying for as long as they wish.

This investment is part of a program that supports the creation of new and expanded hospices across Ontario, which will help more than 2,000 additional people and their families access palliative and end-of-life care each year. Through this program, eligible hospices can apply for significant capital funding to supplement local fundraising efforts.

Residential hospices provide expert care in a home-like environment, giving families and friends the space and care they need to be with their loved ones at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.

Expanding access to compassionate palliative and end-of-life care is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

QUOTES

“Facilities with hospice care are special places that provide compassionate care to patients and families at a very difficult time. In 2016, we committed to expanding palliative and end-of-life care to give people across the province high-quality care closer to home.”— John Fraser, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

“The Erie St. Clair LHIN believes that people across our communities need equitable and timely access to palliative and end-of-life care. As a result of this belief, palliative care services have doubled across the LHIN in the past four years. This important investment continues to ensure that when someone needs palliative or end-of-life care, they can receive it.”
— Ralph Ganter, CEO, Erie St. Clair LHIN

“In 2017, the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County celebrated its 10th anniversary of residential home care for patients and families in Windsor/Essex County. We are excited to expand our residential home in Windsor from an eight- to a 10-bed facility. The addition will increase the capacity of hospice care and allow us to help more people.”
— Carol Derbyshire, Executive Director, the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County

QUICK FACTS

Ontario will provide up to $400,000 to help fund the costs of renovating the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County, including adding two more beds. Once construction is complete, the province will provide $210,000 in annual operating funding.

The Erie St. Clair region now has 40 hospice beds supported through $4.2 million in annual funding.

The province is delivering on its 2016-17 commitment to support up to 20 new hospices across Ontario within three years by funding construction and renovation costs for hospices.

Ontario is providing capital funding of up to $200,000 to build each new eligible hospice bed and also contributing $105,000 per bed for operating costs in hospices across the province.

In 2016, the province announced an additional $75 million for hospice and palliative care over three years, which is on top of the $80 million already announced for hospice and palliative care, bringing the total to $155 million.